Bunk Mates
by skele-smol
Summary: Glaring at the metal frame that was firmly wedged in the doorway, its thin legs bracing stubbornly against the jamb, before peering over at the cocked brow and bemused smirk of Louis who was trapped on the other side of the bed and stuck inside the old dorm room. "On the count of three, Lou. Lift and left. Ready?" Violet and Clementine are finally moving into a dorm together.


**Bunk Mates.**

"OK. Let's try this again." Violet huffed breathlessly. Raking fingers scraped through her sweat sticky bangs. Pulling them back and away from her eyes. Itching her scalp through the strands slowly and blew out her irritated breath from puffed cheeks. Glaring at the metal frame that was firmly wedged in the doorway, its thin legs bracing stubbornly against the jamb, before peering over at the cocked brow and bemused smirk of Louis who was trapped on the other side of the bed and stuck inside the old dorm room. "On the count of three, Lou. Lift and left. Ready?"

He nodded firmly.

"OK. One..."

Fingers curled around the edges of the frame, adjusting their grip.

"Two..."

Two pairs of feet widened their stances, legs bending at the knees. Shoulders squared and tensed as they readied themselves.

"Three!"

The lifting part was easy. The cheap ass frame wasn't terribly heavy, just cumbersome and unwieldy. All jutting legs and a simple barred headboard that bit deeper into the doorjamb, stubbornly wedging until it was stuck fast as the two teens strained and grunted. Their fingers aching and their feet skidding backwards, threatening to send them tumbling to the floor.

"Oh, fucking shit fuckballs!"

Violet's colourful language bounced through the empty corridor of the boarding schools old faculty wing, quickly followed by a dull thud and a sharp yelp of pain. She stumbled -well, limped really- backward, away from the firmly stuck piece of furniture, her toe throbbing inside her worn out boot from the vicious kick she had delivered. Squeezing from the room and ducking under the obstacle that was now barring the doorway, Louis reached his fingers out and gently gripped his friend's tensed shoulder as she paced in a circle. Her slouching shoulder rolled away from under his touch before rounding forward again, her fingers biting into her hips.

"One thing." She growled, voice rasping in her irritation. "One stupid, little fucking thing... and I can't even give her that."

Louis discretely rolled his eyes. And everyone said that _he _was the melodramatic one. He tilted his head to catch Violet's gaze before he repeated his eye-roll in a pointedly overzealous pantomime before he gestured toward her, his hands moving over a few simple motions.

_'Calm down, Vi. Clem'll be pissed if you break your toe.' _He gave her a sly grin. _'Besides, she has our only set of crutches.' _

"Oh, shut up Louis!" There was no heat behind the snark, but there was a beat of awkward silence as the atmosphere shifted slightly. Violet's eyes lowered away from the flash of pain that darted across Louis's face, the twinkling light of mirth that gave his eyes such warmth dimmed a touch and his jaw tensed minutely. "Aw, shit! Lou, I... I didn't mean it like that."

The lanky mute's lips slowly tugged into a wide, forced smile. He knew she meant nothing by it. It was nothing more than a spontaneous response that was blurted without thought. His shook his head in gentle dismissal as he flicked his fingers in a small _'it's OK' _despite the obvious slump in his usually charismatic posture and the hint of sadness that lurked behind the twist of his lips.

Violet felt her chest tighten and her throat constrict. "It's not 'OK'. It was a dickish thing for me to say." She said quietly, unable to meet his gaze. "I'm so sorry."

Carefully, Louis squeezed her shoulder. Bending down low and chucking his knuckle under her chin -a touch that he knew irritated the shit out of her- forcing her to meet his eyes. _'It _**_is_**_OK, Vi. I know it wasn't what you meant.' _

Violet aimed a halfhearted scowl at him for the chin thing, though her mouth bore a small warm smile, one that lit up her fine, sharp features in genuine happiness. Something that had been missing from the blonde since the time before Clementine. Sure, Louis had been crushing after the girl when she'd first showed up, but it became painfully obvious very quickly that Clem's eye had been firmly fixed on Violet not him. And now; seeing how they were together, each tempering the others bark and bite, Louis couldn't help but smile. It was nice. Seeing Violet, the real Violet, slowly re-emerging into the sunlight again.

With a bright, good natured grin, Louis bumped his hip against hers and waved his hand at the stuck bed frame as he raised his brow at her in a wordless question.

Glancing over at the stupid thing, Violet shrugged a shoulder. "Nah, fuck it. I got a back up plan." She did, however point over to the large mattress that they had had the foresight to pull from the room before they'd effectively blocked it off. "I'm gonna need your help dragging that back to the dorm. And I'm still gonna need you as an extra pair of hands."

Sharp, serrated teeth bit through the hollow tubing of the bunk's slats. Metal shrieking on metal as the hacksaw blade carved a mangled path and set both their teeth on edge. Finally the screams ceased and Violet stepped back, allowing Louis to drag the top bed of the toppled bunk away from the bottom, releasing his friend from the once whole pen as they both set about carefully wrapping the ragged cuts and score marks that marred the metal in flexible duct-tape.

The next step was to stand them back up and use the zip-ties that they had found, tucked away in the basement, to secure the two halves into a whole and toss the new mattress into place. Hauling them together, Louis squinted and scrutinized the new 'headboard' as Violet set about securing them, his hand going out to touch.

"Problem, Lou?" Violet grumbled as she pulled the last of strong plastic straps as tight as they would go and glanced up, frowning lightly at the amused smirk that had found its home upon the youth's lips.

He gripped the closest slat to him and gently shook. The entire bed wobbled, the shortened leg bumping and grating against the bare wooden floor. His smirk blooming into a full grin.

"Shit!"

_'This gonna be Clem's side?' _

Violet grumbled quietly to herself as she ignored the playful jab. Instead focusing on dragging the mattress onto the widened frame before grabbing up the couple of pillows and tossing them up at the head end of the bed, her palms smoothing out the blankets as she finally turned back to Louis. "You mind grabbing Clem for me? I kinda have one more thing I wanna do to surprise her."

Louis cocked his head, brows curving up in jaunty mischief as he signed something less than innocent at her.

Crimson streaked across Violet's nose and embarrassed heat nipped at the tips of her ears. If she'd still been clutching a pillow, she'd have thrown the damned thing at him just to wipe that knowing look from his face.

"Jesus, no, Lou! Just... no!" Her voice shooting up an octave and cracking awkwardly on his name, which simply coaxed his familiar shit-eating grin back onto his face. Violet shook her head in defeat and sighed. "Just go get her. Please? And make sure she doesn't peek."

With a wordless salute, Louis was gone, prancing his way down the corridor like the damned merry fool that he was. The rosy flush that painted her nose and cheeks faded, though the warming glow lingered. She'd missed him. The real him. The him from before Lilly and his mutilation. And while they weren't quite there yet, this Louis was a damned sight better than that broken shell he had been for months after the attack. She had seen him improve every day. His confidence bolstering each time that she and he would sit in his dorm and practice their signing together, gradually building their own language from the ASL books that they had found.

Violet moved around to the closet built into the old rooms wall, and dragged out a tiny bookcase that she had scavenged from the behind the old fishing shack. She had managed to enlist Willy's help in fixing up the shelves and then carefully painted it herself with the last of Tenn's leftover paints. White, like the one Clementine had told her about from her childhood bedroom, forever lost back in the old days. She smiled softly as she carefully backed it up against the wall at one side of the bed before she returned to the closet and tugged out two old and musty books, pilfered from the recently uncovered library, and a cracked vase that held several yellow flowers and a few sprigs of purple lavender.

Just as she was finishing up her arranging them upon the shelves, she caught the musical lilt of Clementine's voice. Her words alive with laughter and gentle scolding as they carried along the corridor and drifted to her ear, unobstructed by the open door.

"OK. I get that it's a surprise Louis, but did you really have to cover my eyes as soon as we left my- AJ's room? Wouldn't have been so slow or tripped so often if I didn't have you hanging off my face the whole way."

Violet chuckled throatily as Louis peeked his head into the room, head bobbing in silent question as he observed the blonde standing to one side. "We're good to go, Lou. Bring her in."

The boy grinned widely, head ducking back out. Clementine uttered an indigent squawk, as she was clumsily steered into the dorm room, her crutches moving awkward and slow, one at a time as she tried to sightlessly feel out her path.

Violet bit her lip at the sight. Trying and failing to trap her laughter behind her teeth and unable to resist the allure of a gentle tease that tickled in her throat. "How was your walk, Clem? Find your way?"

"Oh, har-dee-har-har! Everyone's a fucking comedian." Clementine grumbled in feigned irritation. Her toothy smile belying the good humor of her mood as she directed her next words to Louis. "You got me here, now can I have my eyesight back? Being blinded and crippled is a little bit more of a hassle than I am comfortable dealing with."

Violet nodded to Louis and he stepped back, his gentle hands slipping from the warmed amber eyes. Clementine blinked once, twice before her focus adjusted and found Violet standing next to a full sized bed and a tiny white bookcase, looking tired and disheveled and so ridiculously proud of herself.

"Oh, Vi." She breathed. Swinging herself forward, a trembling smile on her lips. "What did you do?"

"I thought it would be nice to have something new. Something that was just for us, y'know?" Violet nodded at the new-old bed. "Wanted to drag one of the bigger beds from the faculty wing, but it had other ideas and fought back. So I, uh, made this. Louis helped."

Clementine's shuffled closer still, pausing to trail her fingers over the mismatched blankets. "You built us a bed?"

"Kinda, yeah. Cut one of the bunks in two and zip-tied the two parts together."

"Can I sit?"

Violet nodded. Carefully Clementine lowered herself onto her new bed, their new bed. Hers and Violet's. Her chest tight with emotion as she sank into the mattress, breath hitching in surprise as the bed gave the tiniest wobble and click as one of the legs touched the floor with her added weight. Glancing over her shoulder, she caught Violet's tiny grimace.

"Yeah, it's not perfect. One of my cuts was a little short, so it's a little wonky."

"Like me."

"I guess." A soft smile, touched Violet's eyes as she clambered onto the bed behind Clementine, pressing her forehead against the smooth skin and tickling curls, her lids slipping closed as she breathed. "But, wonky or not, you're still perfect to me."

A single yip of laughter breezed across Violet's face as warm fingers tangled in her own and held her hand firm against the mattress.

"And you're still a sap." Clementine teased. Stealing a chaste kiss at first, before dipping in for a second, longer touch. Her tongue barely tracing the seam of Violet's lips in a primal promise of deepening their connection.

At least, until Louis gave an awkward cough. Reminding the couple that he was still very much present. He offered a sheepish grin as they scrambled apart, blushing profusely. Clementine was the first to compose herself, smiling that secret smile of hers that softened every feature and kindled a warm swell of love in whoever it was turned upon.

"I still can't believe you did this for me," She met Violet's eyes before turning to Louis with the same warm expression. "For us. Thank you. Both of you. This is amazing."

Louis stepped over to where Clementine still sat, leaning in to give a quick hug before gesturing to himself and then the doorway, indicating that he would leave the couple to enjoy their new shared space in private. Clementine nodded wordlessly and flopped backwards, sagging into the more spacious mattress with a contented sigh. Violet, on the other hand followed her friend out, catching him by the shoulder and waiting for him to turn around.

As soon as he was facing the blonde, Violet slipped her arms around his waist and sank into a deep hug. A gasp spilled over Louis's lips, bringing his own arms up cautiously to wrap around her shoulders and hold her in place. He'd missed this. Missed the way that she used to hug him before she grew avoidant. Defensively closing everyone out and avoiding building any physical connections with new people, avoided nurturing existing friendships, that way she could control the level of hurt when they inevitably fucked off.

The embrace only lasted a few moments before Violet wriggled away, her cheeks tinted and eyes downcast as she cleared her throat. "I, er…" She took a breath, held it then blew it out in a ragged sigh. "I'm gonna head back in. Thanks... for your help, Lou. I couldn't have done it without you."

He smiled fondly, watching as the young woman spun on her heel and ducked back into her and Clementine's now shared dorm and shut the door without another look back. Turning on his own heel, Louis felt the bounce return to his gait and he strode along the hall, his fingers suddenly itching to tickle his piano's ivories, something he hadn't wanted to do since he'd lost his tongue.

Behind the dormitory door, Violet pressed her forehead against the heavy barrier, sagging as she rattled a long breath.

Glancing up at the loud breath, Clementine frowned lightly. "Everything OK, Vi?"

Violet pushed herself up and away from the supportive door and turned around, her eyes bright with emotion and something that looked suspiciously like relief softening her face "Yeah, Clem. Everything is good."


End file.
